Table of Contents

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Political Change in Britain, 1963 (ICPSR 7232)

Principal Investigator(s):
Butler, David;
Stokes, Donald E.

Summary:

This study is part of a larger investigation that surveyed
both cross-section and panel samples between 1963 and 1970, in an
effort to analyze political change in Great Britain. Interviewing was
conducted in four waves: the first wave in 1963, an election-free
year, and the next three waves subsequent to the general elections in
1964, 1966, and 1970. The present study contains the data resulting
from the 1963 national cross-section sample. POLITICAL CHANGE IN
BRITAIN, 1964 (ICPSR 7233) presents data obtained from the 1964
electorate sample, POLITICAL CHANGE IN BRITAIN, 1966 (ICPSR 7234)
includes the interviews administered to the 1966 electorate sample,
and POLITICAL CHANGE IN BRITAIN, 1963-1970 (ICPSR 7250) comprises the
master file that brings together the 1963, 1964, and 1966 samples as
well as 11 additional panels. The interviews focused on the
phenomenon of political change. General political attitudes and
behaviors were ascertained, as well as possible sources for their
change. Variables assessed respondents' sources of political
information, perceptions of political parties and leaders, and views
on governmental responsiveness, economic well-being, and other salient
issues. Other questions probed partisan self-identification and the
extent of political participation. The respondents' knowledge of
members of parliament from their constituencies, and perceptions of
social class and trade-union influence were also
investigated. Semantic differential scales were employed to assess
respondents' perceptions of the three main parties. Extensive
demographic data were collected, including age, sex, marital status,
number of children, religion, education, occupation, and income.

This study is part of a larger investigation that surveyed
both cross-section and panel samples between 1963 and 1970, in an
effort to analyze political change in Great Britain. Interviewing was
conducted in four waves: the first wave in 1963, an election-free
year, and the next three waves subsequent to the general elections in
1964, 1966, and 1970. The present study contains the data resulting
from the 1963 national cross-section sample. POLITICAL CHANGE IN
BRITAIN, 1964 (ICPSR 7233) presents data obtained from the 1964
electorate sample, POLITICAL CHANGE IN BRITAIN, 1966 (ICPSR 7234)
includes the interviews administered to the 1966 electorate sample,
and POLITICAL CHANGE IN BRITAIN, 1963-1970 (ICPSR 7250) comprises the
master file that brings together the 1963, 1964, and 1966 samples as
well as 11 additional panels. The interviews focused on the
phenomenon of political change. General political attitudes and
behaviors were ascertained, as well as possible sources for their
change. Variables assessed respondents' sources of political
information, perceptions of political parties and leaders, and views
on governmental responsiveness, economic well-being, and other salient
issues. Other questions probed partisan self-identification and the
extent of political participation. The respondents' knowledge of
members of parliament from their constituencies, and perceptions of
social class and trade-union influence were also
investigated. Semantic differential scales were employed to assess
respondents' perceptions of the three main parties. Extensive
demographic data were collected, including age, sex, marital status,
number of children, religion, education, occupation, and income.

Access Notes

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Study Description

Citation

Butler, David, and Donald E. Stokes. POLITICAL CHANGE IN BRITAIN, 1963. Conducted by David Butler, Nuffield College, Oxford, and Donald E. Stokes, University of Michigan. ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 1979. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07232.v1

Universe:
Adult population in England, Wales, and Scotland living in
private households or institutions.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.

Methodology

Sample:
Self-weighting, multistage, stratified sample.

Data Source:

personal interviews

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Standardized missing values.

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Restrictions: At the request of the original investigators, ICPSR
has restricted the data for V559-V647. These variables include the
member of parliament questions as well as the knowledge of the
candidates questions.